William Halse Rivers, psychologist and anthropologist, was born on 12
March 1864 in Luton, near, Chatham, Kent. He was educated at Tonbridge
School and St. Bartholomew's Hospital. In 1897 he became a lecturer in
psychology at Cambridge; in 1902 he was elected a fellow of St. John's
College. He was most interested in the relationship between mind and body,
playing a fundamental role in the establishment of both experimental psychology
and social anthropology as academic disciplines in Britain. He was made
a fellow of the Royal Society in 1908 and won the Society's gold medal
in 1914. He died on 4 June 1922. His father Henry Frederick Rivers was
a speech therapist.

The collection consists of letters and cards. There are letters from
C. L. Dodgson (1832-1898), mathematician and author, also known as Lewis
Carroll, 1873-74; Sir Francis Darwin (1848-1925), botantist and son of
Charles Darwin; Sir James George Frazer (1854-1941), social anthropologist
and author of The Golden Bough; Andrew Lang (1844-1912), scholar,
folk-lorist, and author; Bernard Shaw (1856-1946), playwright; Arnold
Bennett (1867-1931), novelist and playwright; and Sir Charles Scott Sherrington
(1857-1952), neurologist and Nobel laureate. The collection also contains
a letter from Arnold Bennett to Ellery Sidgwick, the editor of the Atlantic
Monthly, introducing W.H.R. Rivers to him; an autograph of H. G. Wells
(1866-1946), author, and other documents, including two sketches, one
in pencil and one in pen and ink. There is also a typescript titled "Memories
of Lewis Carroll" by Katharine Rivers, a sister of W. H. R. Rivers. The
typescript was published in Library Research News, 3, no. 4 (January
1976).

Title based on the content of the collection.
The collection was purchased at auction at Christies, April 1974 by Bertram
Rota for McMaster University.
Brief finding aid is available in hard copy and electronically.
There are no access restrictions.
No further accruals are expected